ABA Booksellers Forums Scheduled for Upcoming Weeks

There will be a number of ABA Booksellers Forums in the upcoming weeks. The forums are open meetings where ABA members can meet and talk with representatives of the ABA Board and association senior staff to discuss pertinent ABA- or industry-related issues.

At press time, forums were scheduled for:

• Wednesday, March 20, from noon – 2:00 p.m. at the Transitions Bookstore and Learning Center in Chicago;
  
• Friday, March 22, from 1:15 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. at the Marriott Downtown in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and
  
• Saturday, March 23, from 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. at the Coeur d'Alene Resort in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
  

BTW will be posting reports on these forums beginning Thursday, March 21, at http://news.bookweb.org/.

Looking ahead, six forums are scheduled for April. Among other topics, the forums will give booksellers a chance to offer input into ABA’s new strategic plan, as the association develops priorities and new directions.

On Saturday, April 6, from noon – 2:00 p.m., in conjunction with the Southern California Booksellers Association’s Spring Workshop, there will be a forum at the U.S. Grant -- A Wyndham Historic Hotel in San Diego. Attending will be ABA Board member Lilla Weinberger of Readers’ Books in Sonoma, California, together with ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz and ABA COO Oren Teicher.

On Sunday, April 7, from noon – 2:00 p.m., in conjunction with the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Spring Workshops, there will be a forum at the Golden Gate Club in The Presidio in San Francisco. Attending will be ABA Board member Weinberger, Michael Tucker of Books Inc. and Dennis Ronberg of Linden Tree Records and Books (both are members of the ABA Bookseller Advisory Council), as well as ABA’s Domnitz and Teicher. There will also be a special session on bookstore finances led by Domnitz, which will precede the forum, beginning at 9:30 a.m. (For more on the financial session, click here.)

On Tuesday, April 9, from 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m., in conjunction with the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association’s "Spring Fling," there will be a forum at the Union League of Philadelphia. ABA Board member John Bennett of Bennett Books in Wyckoff, New Jersey; ABA BAC member Beth Puffer of Bank Street Bookstore in New York City; and ABA’s Domnitz will all be attending the forum.

On Wednesday, April 10, from 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., in conjunction with the Mid-South Independent Booksellers Association, there will be a forum at the Enchanted Forest Bookstore in Dallas. Attending will be ABA BAC member Michele Lewis of the Afro-American Book Stop in New Orleans, as well as ABA’s Teicher.

On Thursday, April 11, from 10:00 a.m. – noon, in conjunction with the New England Booksellers Association, there will be a forum at Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, Massachusetts. Attending will be ABA Board members Suzanne Staubach of UCONN Co-op in Storrs, Connecticut, and John Bennett; as well as BAC members Dana Brigham of Brookline Booksmith. Attending from ABA will be CEO Domnitz and COO Teicher.

On Saturday, April 13, from 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m., in conjunction with the Upper Midwest Booksellers Association, there will be a forum at The Edgewater, in Madison, Wisconsin. Watch BTW for more details on the forum. In addition, ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz will lead an ABA Bookstore Finances session on Sunday, April 14, from 9:00 a.m. – noon.

To RSVP for any of these Booksellers Forums, contact Kristen Gilligan at (800) 637-0037, ext. 1286 or kristen@bookweb.org.